Monday, April 27, 2009

In an effort to stay in the kitchen, yet back away from the food this week, I borrowed an idea from Stacey over at Stacey Snacks (with her blessing, of course). And if you haven't been over to her place yet- go! You will always learn much, leave inspired, and never be disappointed.

While we bought our home 10 months ago, there are still a few boxes left to unpack, window treatments to make, and decorating to be done. This will be our home till we're old and gray, so I guess I don't have to be in too big a hurry.

With the exception of the range, we did purchase all new LG appliances. We love them, especially our three door LG refrigerator, except for the "silent" series LG dishwasher. It isn't very silent, and it's on it's second sump replacement (thank God for warranties), and it doesn't dry worth a darn. Our next purchase will be a new range, and we are looking at the Maytag Gemini. Without rearranging the kitchen, it's the closest I will get to a double oven for awhile. While our house has gas heat and water, for some reason the gas line was not run to the kitchen, so we are stuck with electric, unless we want to foot the bill to run the gas line to the kitchen. We are seriously considering it, but the tree in the backyard is just running out of bills...

Definitely, one of the reasons we decided to buy our home was the size of the kitchen, and the open feel it had relating to our family room. I love being able to have people over, relaxing in our family room, and still being able to speak to them from the kitchen, or, having them in the kitchen and not feeling like I have to ask anyone to get out of my way.

There was an awful, little gold light fixture above the table, that my hubby replaced with this one instead...

Our home is about 7 years old, and we knew when we bought it, despite it's newness, that some day, cabinets would need to be replaced. I definitely love the amount we have, but I guess the previous owners used this home solely for income property, and the cabinets were not "loved" as ones own. So, someday... maybe some a bit darker, with a bunch of nice, deep drawers and slide out shelving. In the meantime, I am absolutely in love with having a pantry...

An entire room to store a million things I don't need (I swear, I do not eat 90% of the things in there while I've been on this diet).

And all the cookbooks I have to have

With enough dishes and silverware to feed 40, because I hate paper plates for company.

I love having a counter at my every turn.

With even more to set up a buffet now and then.

I finally have a great kitchen "triangle"

And places to decorate with "all that clutter" as my hubby likes to call it.

The only thing I'm probably a bit weird about is how things are put into my kitchen drawers. I hate digging for things. Especially when baking, I want to open a drawer and find what I need right away. So when you open mine, you see this...

But I swear, my bedroom closets are trashed, and the laundry pile huge, I promise. No pics there though. I ain't that crazy to post pics of my dirty laundry. I did seven loads today- and there is still more.

And at the end of the day, when I want to unwind, have a glass of wine, and share my treats with you, this is where I am perched.

It's my formal dining "slash" living room. But having a couch right next to my table looked odd, so I opted for a nice desk instead.

I have a Maytag Gemini and I looooove it. I cannot say enough good things about it! I end up using just the top oven 90% of the time, but when I host dinners or holidays, it is SO handy to have the two ovens!

What a great post! I think I might have to do this one day soon... just for something different.

Your kitchen looks so warm and friendly. I could totally see me hanging out with you over a good cup of tea!

I have the Maytag Gemini oven. I love the fact that it has 2 ovens -- that's a dream come true, but I have to say that I absolutely despise the glass cook top! I had never had one before and being the neat freak that I am, it's kind of impossible to keep super clean. I've scrubbed it so hard I've actually taken a bit of the enamel off! I'm not sure if they make a gas model, but if they do, that would be the perfect hybrid. The two ovens are a wonderful though.

I love how organized your drawers are - *swoon!* Thanks for having us over!

Loved your kitchen tour, my drawers inside would never compare to yours, I'm always fishing for something! It would be great to share some of that POM sangria with you in your kitchen. BTW, great idea!

It's a great kitchen and I am amazed by the space you have. You're right to be proud of your new house, a wonderful house indeed! Your kitchen has sooo much space and it is so neat! Everything is so well organized. I have a large house too but since it is the result of the union of 4 tiny apartments, although we have many rooms, each room (kitchen included) is definitely small. Not that it matters much, me being a disaster in cooking and wifey being too busy with her work. So get prepared. I our next visit to the USA we'll come over for a coffee (and for a sangria, why not, though not after coffee, of course ...) :-)

Love your kitchen! Looks like you have lots of space for doing what you need to do when cooking. It's funny, I came from a small kitchen to my much larger kitchen and was in heaven for a long time. Now I feel that it's too small lol!

I love that you're so organized in your drawers. Wish I had the room to do that!